Dark and delightful—for readers who enjoy chills with their giggles.
A young boy takes a terrifying bus ride on his way to his grandmother’s house in Becker and Fearing’s gleefully baleful picture book.
“’Twas the thirteenth of November, a stormy night, / when the Thirteen bus hove into sight. / Something about it didn’t seem right… // but Michael McMichael boarded.” And off young Michael McMichael goes on his way to deliver a beloved pet to his grandmother. A busful of creepy passengers doesn’t faze the young boy of color, but when he suddenly finds himself alone, he begins to notice the bus’s jawlike doors, its tonguelike floor, and the driver’s sinister leer. Becker’s rollicking rhyme scheme not only captures the rapid, lurching motion of Michael McMichael’s journey, but as the unnerving quickly escalates to the life-threatening, it also steadily envelops readers in the rising tension. Fearing’s dark but dynamic illustrations keep pace with the building intensity and intertwine with the text as seamlessly as humor intertwines with horror in a narrative that sits somewhere between “The Raven” and Courage the Cowardly Dog animated cartoons. And rather than pull back and return readers to the dullness of safety, Michael McMichael’s creative and disconcerting solution to free himself from the bus will leave readers with a whole new set of frissons.
Dark and delightful—for readers who enjoy chills with their giggles. (Picture book. 3-8)Pub Date: July 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-7636-8150-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018
This bunny escapes all the traps but fails to find a logical plot or an emotional connection with readers.
The bestselling series (How to Catch an Elf, 2016, etc.) about capturing mythical creatures continues with a story about various ways to catch the Easter Bunny as it makes its annual deliveries.
The bunny narrates its own story in rhyming text, beginning with an introduction at its office in a manufacturing facility that creates Easter eggs and candy. The rabbit then abruptly takes off on its delivery route with a tiny basket of eggs strapped to its back, immediately encountering a trap with carrots and a box propped up with a stick. The narrative focuses on how the Easter Bunny avoids increasingly complex traps set up to catch him with no explanation as to who has set the traps or why. These traps include an underground tunnel, a fluorescent dance floor with a hidden pit of carrots, a robot bunny, pirates on an island, and a cannon that shoots candy fish, as well as some sort of locked, hazardous site with radiation danger. Readers of previous books in the series will understand the premise, but others will be confused by the rabbit’s frenetic escapades. Cartoon-style illustrations have a 1960s vibe, with a slightly scary, bow-tied bunny with chartreuse eyes and a glowing palette of neon shades that shout for attention.
This bunny escapes all the traps but fails to find a logical plot or an emotional connection with readers. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4926-3817-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: Jan. 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2017
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BOOK REVIEW
Not enough tricks to make this a treat.
Another holiday title (How To Catch the Easter Bunny by Adam Wallace, illustrated by Elkerton, 2017) sticks to the popular series’ formula.
Rhyming four-line verses describe seven intrepid trick-or-treaters’ efforts to capture the witch haunting their Halloween. Rhyming roadblocks with toolbox is an acceptable stretch, but too often too many words or syllables in the lines throw off the cadence. Children familiar with earlier titles will recognize the traps set by the costume-clad kids—a pulley and box snare, a “Tunnel of Tricks.” Eventually they accept her invitation to “floss, bump, and boogie,” concluding “the dance party had hit the finale at last, / each dancing monster started to cheer! / There’s no doubt about it, we have to admit: / This witch threw the party of the year!” The kids are diverse, and their costumes are fanciful rather than scary—a unicorn, a dragon, a scarecrow, a red-haired child in a lab coat and bow tie, a wizard, and two space creatures. The monsters, goblins, ghosts, and jack-o'-lanterns, backgrounded by a turquoise and purple night sky, are sufficiently eerie. Still, there isn’t enough originality here to entice any but the most ardent fans of Halloween or the series. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Not enough tricks to make this a treat. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-72821-035-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: May 10, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
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BOOK REVIEW
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